NBAD payment signals a return to confidence

The news that the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, will pay off by June a Dh5.6bn (US$1.52bn) loan given to it by the UAE Government in 2008, was an important marker of improving sentiment within the UAE. The final payment will be fully four years earlier than scheduled, said "The National" in its today's editorial. The loan was part of a critical injection of liquidity into the banking sector that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a US bank, in 2008. With markets worldwide in turmoil and many global banks teetering, the Government sough to shore up liquidity and confidence in the UAE's banking sector to protect the stability and confidence in the sector. The move injected Dh42 bn across all banks. The UAE has advantages other countries may envy, but using resource revenue wisely is also an advantage: As NBAD chief executive Michael Tomalin noted on Tuesday, the Government's early action in supporting banks "allowed the country to remain strong and avert the most severe conditions of the global recession". The UAE will eventually be able to say that this country and its banks, at least, are part of the solution and not part of the problem", concluded the paper.